The Blind Boys of Alabama Step In to Aid New Orleans

From The Belle Report:

Mills River, NC – Grace Community Church in Mills River and Greater New Zion Baptist Church in Fletcher are sponsoring a benefit concert next month featuring four-time Grammy-winning artists the Blind Boys of Alabama.

The proceeds of the May 4 concert will be split between Desire Street Ministries, which is working to rebuild its urban work in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and One Youth at A Time, an Asheville organization focused on mentoring and tutoring underserved youth.

The Blind Boys of Alabama have been performing soul gospel music since the first version of the group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. Today, founding members Clarence Fountain and Jimmy Carter are joined by more recent arrivals Joey Williams, Ricky McKinnie, Bobby Butler, Tracy Pierce and Billie Bowers. The group seeks to expand the audience for traditional soul-gospel singing while incorporating contemporary songs and innovative arrangements.

TBGB Note: Jimmy Carter is not a founding member of the Blind Boys of Alabama, but rather a long-time member. He did, however, sing with the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi in the 1960s, when the quartet included Roscoe Robinson.

The four-time Grammy award winners fuse gospel, soul, blues, funk and boogie. The group recently collaborated with artists like Peter Gabriel, Ben Harper, Billy Preston, Charlie Musselwhite, Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo and the hip-hop duo Blackalicious.

Recent remakes of songs by Eric Claption, Norman Greenbaum and Fatboy Slim have expanded the group’s repertoire. One of the Blind Boys’ covers – a version of Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole” – became the theme song for the HBO dramatic series “The Wire.”

The group toured more than 40 years on the traditional gospel circuit. But in 1983, their career reached a turning point with “The Gospel at Colonus,” the Obie award-winning off-Broadway and Broadway musical.

The Blind Boys are members of the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. The group’s latest release, “Atom Bomb,” includes its forays into pop music with featuring loops, raps and blues riffs.

Find out more about the group at their Web site at www.blindboys.com.